{"id":1542856,"date":"2022-07-07T11:49:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T15:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1542856"},"modified":"2022-07-07T11:49:31","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T15:49:31","slug":"wnba-superstar-brittney-griner-pleads-guilty-to-russian-drug-charges-admission-could-pave-way-for-swap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wnba-superstar-brittney-griner-pleads-guilty-to-russian-drug-charges-admission-could-pave-way-for-swap\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Superstar Brittney Griner Pleads Guilty To Russian Drug Charges, Admission Could Pave Way For Swap"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwnba-superstar-brittney-griner-pleads-guilty-to-russian-drug-charges-admission-could-pave-way-for-swap%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1542856&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Basketball superstar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/brittney-griners-wife-begs-biden-to-get-wnba-star-freed-from-russia\">Brittney Griner<\/a>, who has been held in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/russia\">Russia<\/a> on drug charges since February despite U.S. diplomatic efforts to win her release, pleaded guilty Thursday to bringing hashish oil into the country.<\/p>\n<p>Griner, the 6-foot, 9-inch star for the WNBA\u2019s Phoenix Mercury, was playing in the off-season for a Russian team when she was allegedly caught with illegal vape cartridges. She told a Russian judge in the city of Khimki it was all a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to plead guilty, your honor,\u201d said Griner, who wore a bright red T-shirt and trousers as she was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs. \u201cBut there was no intent. I didn\u2019t want to break the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: Russian media: U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug possession, smuggling charges, says she did not intend to break Russian law. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MVk3clYFHG\">https:\/\/t.co\/MVk3clYFHG<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0jyci7ovif\">pic.twitter.com\/0jyci7ovif<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Associated Press (@AP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP\/status\/1545049885673545729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 7, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The plea is not expected to end her trial, which could go on for months, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/34205952\/detained-wnba-star-brittney-griner-pleads-guilty-drug-charges-russia\">according to ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Griner has been in custody since February 17, when she was nabbed at Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, said after the hearing that she spoke to Griner in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s eating well, she\u2019s able to read books and under the circumstances she\u2019s doing well,\u201d Rood said.<\/p>\n<p>The guilty plea sparked speculation it could pave the way for a prisoner swap. Russia wants the release of arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is known as \u201cthe Merchant of Death\u201d and is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States, in exchange for Griner.<\/p>\n<p>Any exchange would almost certainly require an admission of guilt from the two-time Olympic gold medalist.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/brittney-griners-wife-begs-biden-to-get-wnba-star-freed-from-russia\">Griner<\/a> had flown to Russia to finish her season for UMMC Ekaterinburg when she was arrested. The team competes in the Russian Premier League and FIBA Europe\u2019s EuroLeague. WNBA players can make far bigger salaries playing in Europe and Asia during the league\u2019s off-season than they can earn in the United States, where interest in women\u2019s basketball is limited.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Griner\u2019s wife Cherelle Griner told \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d\u00a0President Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/they-are-not-doing-anything-hoops-stars-wife-says-biden-has-not-responded-to-desperate-plea-from-russian-prison\">has not yet answered her desperate plea<\/a> for help getting the star out of Russia. The White House insists that Biden is fully engaged on the matter and is working to win her release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basketball superstar Brittney Griner, who has been held in Russia on drug charges since February despite U.S. diplomatic efforts to win her release, pleaded guilty Thursday to bringing hashish oil into the country. Griner, the 6-foot, 9-inch star for the WNBA\u2019s Phoenix Mercury, was playing in the off-season for a Russian team when she was &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":729,"featured_media":1546981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1542856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/729"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}